Do Rituals Make Food Taste Better?

Performing a little ritual before eating—whether it's singing the birthday song or snapping a picture for Instagram—makes the food taste better, researchers report. Some study participants were instructed to break a chocolate bar in half, unwrap one half and eat it, then unwrap and eat the other half. They enjoyed the treat more than members of another group that did not perform this ritual. And it wasn't just sweets: Rituals could also make carrots taste better. The researchers conclude that rituals may "serve as a covert means to get people to do a little more of what makes life worth living."Source: Psychological Science, published online July 17, 2013